Australia has revealed its blockchain strategy and development roadmap, and are aiming to increase government funding towards advancing Australia’s blockchain industry, according to a press release titled “Advancing Australia’s Blockchain Industry.” Per the press release, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology, Karen Andrews, and the Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment (Austrade), Simon Birmingham, […]

Australia has revealed its blockchain strategy and development roadmap, and are aiming to increase government funding towards advancing Australia’s blockchain industry, according to a press release titled “Advancing Australia’s Blockchain Industry.”

Per the press release, Australia’s Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology, Karen Andrews, and the Minister for Trade, Tourism, and Investment (Austrade), Simon Birmingham, announced the development of a blockchain roadmap along with $100,000 AUD of funding from the Morrison Government.

As we see country after country’s governments put together plans for being a bigger part of the growing field of business, industry, finance and government participation in blockchain and cryptocurrency, we see a really quickly growing trend of blockchain and crypto becoming the coin of the land worldwide. Definitely an exciting time for the technology and to be a part of the growth of this new asset class.

Detailed in the press release, Australia’s blockchain roadmap will focus on a number of policy-making areas including regulation, skills and capacity building, innovation, investment, and international competitiveness and collaboration.

According to Andrews, this roadmap will set Australia on the right path to seizing the opportunities presented by blockchain technology.

“The national strategy puts us on the front foot in exploring how government and industry can enhance the long-term development of blockchain and its uses.”

Adding to this, she said the Australian government will be working closely with blockchain and technology experts to develop a sound strategy while also collaborating with CSIRO’s Data61 to incorporate findings from their upcoming future scenarios report on blockchain.

Apart from providing details on the blockchain roadmap, Andrews mentioned that the $100,000 in funding will go towards helping Australian blockchain and technology companies attend the upcoming Consensus event in May.

She stated that attending this event will demonstrate the Morrison Government’s commitment to boosting Australia’s blockchain sector.

Birmingham agreed with Andrews, stating:

“It is vital Australia and our tech companies stay ahead of the game in one of the world’s fastest growing technology sectors. Austrade’s upcoming mission will connect Australian blockchain companies and start-ups with investors and customers with a view to expanding their businesses globally.”

It is of immense importance that we continue to see these types of announcements and commitments from governments to support this technology. Now that we are seeing these announcements, it will be very interesting to see what kinds of projects and new support from businesses world wide that come as a result.

American multinational financial services giant Visa is taking the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy when it comes to cryptocurrencies. In order to not be left behind by the promise of high-tps (transactions per second) cryptocurrencies — or Bitcoin (BTC), for that matter — the company is hiring someone to help stay up […]

American multinational financial services giant Visa is taking the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” strategy when it comes to cryptocurrencies. In order to not be left behind by the promise of high-tps (transactions per second) cryptocurrencies — or Bitcoin (BTC), for that matter — the company is hiring someone to help stay up to date with the nascent technology.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a “blockchain-not-crypto” job, either. According to the listing, Visa is looking for candidates that are “passionate about the intersection of payments and cryptocurrency” and are “deeply familiar with permissionless blockchain technology and have a close network of experts in the fast moving cryptocurrency and fintech ecosystem.” Furthermore, the candidate will help Visa develop “new products for Visa to deliver value to fintechs looking to support cryptocurrencies.”

Visa wants this Visa Crypto product manager to create and execute the company’s “product strategy within the cryptocurrency ecosystem” while examining the impact cryptocurrencies will have on payments.

Specifically, the position’s responsibilities are as follows, verbatim:

Manage the product strategy and roadmap for cryptocurrency related opportunities

Define product scope and feature prioritization and be flexible to iterate/change per latest developments to meet deadlines

Influence and provide market feedback and knowledge sharing to the entire cross-functional team and executive leadership

Work closely with all stakeholders to ensure successful end-to-end delivery of products

Keep up with cutting edge technology especially open source projects, and strive to contribute to Visa’s IP portfolio

Yet another of many exciting examples this year of how cryptocurrency and blockchain are making their mark on all manner of industry and the finance industry is no different. This shows that there is a willingness on the part of the finance industry, especially a big player like Visa, to compete and implement various cryptocurrency projects into their world. Instead of banning things and trying to keep their customers from cryptocurrency, Visa is looking to be a bigger part of this technology.

This should leave little doubt in anyone’s mind that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and legacy financial systems know that they must either adapt or die.

IBM is paving the way for banks and other regulated financial institutions to join the blockchain revolution. Rather than going through a series of intermediaries when sending money across borders, IBM has created a real-time, global payments network to support cross-border transactions and foreign exchange in more than 50 countries using digital assets, also known […]

IBM is paving the way for banks and other regulated financial institutions to join the blockchain revolution. Rather than going through a series of intermediaries when sending money across borders, IBM has created a real-time, global payments network to support cross-border transactions and foreign exchange in more than 50 countries using digital assets, also known as cryptocurrencies or “stable coins.”

IBM Blockchain World Wire will help financial institutions improve the services they deliver to their consumers by optimizing and accelerating foreign exchange, cross border payments and remittances. Using the Stellar protocol, World Wire serves as a network provider for international payments, enabling point-to-point money transfers in lieu of the complexities of conventional correspondent banking. While IBM announced an initial pilot of World Wire in October 2017, today the network is officially accessible in a growing number of markets.

These are the types of use case, real world applications of blockchain technology that have been the dream of many cryptocurrency proponents for years now. The pace and acceleration of deals signed and projects being implemented show us that this technology is no longer in it’s infancy but moving forward quickly into it’s toddler years. By big corporations getting into this space, they have the resources, tools, personnel and overall IT knowledge to pave the way for even quicker adoption and support for this technology.

“We’ve created a new type of payment network designed to accelerate remittances and transform cross-border payments to facilitate the movement of money in countries that need it most,” said Marie Wieck, General Manager, IBM Blockchain. “By creating a network where financial institutions support multiple digital assets, we expect to spur innovation and improve financial inclusion worldwide.”

According to IBM, World Wire is the first blockchain network of its kind to integrate payment messaging, clearing and settlement on a single unified platform. Participants are also allowed to dynamically choose from a variety of digital assets for settlement. Currently, World Wire has enabled payment locations in 72 countries, with 48 currencies and 44 banking endpoints.

The World Wire network currently supports settlement using Stellar Lumens (XLM) and a U.S. dollar stable coin through IBM’s previously announced collaboration with Stronghold.

“Personally, I think cryptocurrencies could very well serve as a viable settlement instrument. We’ve started with Lumens, which is the native asset of the Stellar network, but we already have the capacity to introduce other cryptocurrencies that could include Bitcoin or Ether. We will add more digital assets based on client demand and participants on the network,” said Lund.

These are exciting times for cryptocurrency and as we can see, there are many opportunities for other projects to get involved in the payment settlements genre, along with many other projects. Managed blockchain is going to be an important concept for moving forward the adoption of blockchain technology as well and we are going to see many projects getting involved.

Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Colorado are eyeing a role for blockchain technology in the agricultural industry. Four representatives and senators from the state jointly filed the bipartisan house bill 1247 on Friday, proposing that the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture assemble an advisory group to study the potential applications for blockchain technology […]

Lawmakers in the U.S. state of Colorado are eyeing a role for blockchain technology in the agricultural industry.

Four representatives and senators from the state jointly filed the bipartisan house bill 1247 on Friday, proposing that the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture assemble an advisory group to study the potential applications for blockchain technology in agricultural operations.

Several blockchain use cases were identified by the lawmakers, including improving traceability of products “from farm to shelf,” controlling inventory and monitoring in-field conditions such as weather and soil quality.

Maintaining records for production and transportation equipment, verifying data and certification of organic products, tracking and ordering resources such as fertilizer and seed – all using blockchain – are also some of the other areas that could be studied by the group.

As proposed, the advisory group would eventually report back to the general assembly with its findings and recommendations for any legislation by Jan. 15, 2020.

As we can see, by being able to track and see the chain of custody, we can improve efficiency and reward those that do a better job. This efficiency can reduce costs, allow for even more production and let farmers see the best prices. It is important that we allow for non-corporate farmers to be able to compete and see their investments in their farms rewarded, instead of what we currently see, which is small farm after small farm going under as a result of an inability to compete with corporate mega-farms. Using blockchain in farming can help to level that playing field.

The prospect of improving agricultural operations through blockchain technology is starting to see widespread interest across the globe.

The area of supply chains is seeing particular attention, with numerous projects having launched to investigate the tracking of products such as coffee, meat, milk, fish and more.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron made a strident call for increased use of data technologies such as blockchain across the EU to boost the agriculture industry and address concerns over food traceability following the Polish meat scandal.

And, back in October, the four biggest agricultural corporations, popularly known as the “ABCD” – Archer Daniels Midland Company, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus – were also looking to blockchain and AI to bring the global grain trade into the digital age.

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Popular South Korean actor and businessman Bae Yong-joon has invested an undisclosed sum in blockchain-based seafood trade startup Seamon. Seamon is developing a blockchain-based seafood transaction and smart contract system, according to information from its white paper. The project aims to make global seafood transactions “as transparent as possible, reduce unnecessary expenses, and achieve the […]

Popular South Korean actor and businessman Bae Yong-joon has invested an undisclosed sum in blockchain-based seafood trade startup Seamon.

Seamon is developing a blockchain-based seafood transaction and smart contract system, according to information from its white paper. The project aims to make global seafood transactions “as transparent as possible, reduce unnecessary expenses, and achieve the faster and safer international transactions.”

The team is also creating a cryptocurrency called Seamon coin, which will be used in payments and as a store of value. It is also planning to launch an exchange called SeamonX for seafood trading market in Q3 or Q4 of this year, the white paper indicates.

The project aims to address common problems with the international trade in marine products such as defaulting on payments, or late payments. With marine products, this is a particularly vital issue to solve, as their freshness quickly expires, the report says.

Importers will be able to purchase Seamon coins from SeamonX and exchange them for products, making payments in real time. Exporters will be able to exchange the tokens for fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, or the stablecoin tether (USDT), Lee said.

These are important use cases for the industry, as they show the real world value to both customer and business in using blockchain to oversee, manage and protect resources. By being able to track and have that tracking be available in a transparent manner to both seller and purchaser, we have a system that can help to better guarantee resources being what they are, sent when they were proposed to be sent and assets that can be tracked and paid for real time.

Seamon coin is already listed on the BCEX exchange with the ticker symbol SMEX, according to CoinDesk Korea. The exchange will also carry out a free distribution, or “airdrop,” of about 5 billion won ($4.42 million) in tokens from March 25.

Popular South Korean actor and businessman Bae Yong-joon has invested an undisclosed sum in blockchain-based seafood trade startup Seamon. Seamon is developing a blockchain-based seafood transaction and smart contract system, according to information from its white paper. The project aims to make global seafood transactions “as transparent as possible, reduce unnecessary expenses, and achieve the […]

Popular South Korean actor and businessman Bae Yong-joon has invested an undisclosed sum in blockchain-based seafood trade startup Seamon.

Seamon is developing a blockchain-based seafood transaction and smart contract system, according to information from its white paper. The project aims to make global seafood transactions “as transparent as possible, reduce unnecessary expenses, and achieve the faster and safer international transactions.”

The team is also creating a cryptocurrency called Seamon coin, which will be used in payments and as a store of value. It is also planning to launch an exchange called SeamonX for seafood trading market in Q3 or Q4 of this year, the white paper indicates.

The project aims to address common problems with the international trade in marine products such as defaulting on payments, or late payments. With marine products, this is a particularly vital issue to solve, as their freshness quickly expires, the report says.

Importers will be able to purchase Seamon coins from SeamonX and exchange them for products, making payments in real time. Exporters will be able to exchange the tokens for fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, or the stablecoin tether (USDT), Lee said.

These are important use cases for the industry, as they show the real world value to both customer and business in using blockchain to oversee, manage and protect resources. By being able to track and have that tracking be available in a transparent manner to both seller and purchaser, we have a system that can help to better guarantee resources being what they are, sent when they were proposed to be sent and assets that can be tracked and paid for real time.

Seamon coin is already listed on the BCEX exchange with the ticker symbol SMEX, according to CoinDesk Korea. The exchange will also carry out a free distribution, or “airdrop,” of about 5 billion won ($4.42 million) in tokens from March 25.

Ledger Chief Security Officer Charles Guillemet gave a shocking presentation at the MIT Bitcoin Expo this week in which he presented alleged vulnerabilities with the hardware cryptocurrency wallet produced by Trezor – perhaps its top competitor. Trezor argues in a new blog post that all of the attack vectors mentioned are not exploitable remotely. Trezor […]

Ledger Chief Security Officer Charles Guillemet gave a shocking presentation at the MIT Bitcoin Expo this week in which he presented alleged vulnerabilities with the hardware cryptocurrency wallet produced by Trezor – perhaps its top competitor. Trezor argues in a new blog post that all of the attack vectors mentioned are not exploitable remotely.

Trezor particularly took umbrage to the disclosure of an existing chip vulnerability, saying:
“[W]e were surprised by Ledger’s announcement of this issue, especially after being explicitly asked by Ledger not to publicize the issue, due to possible implications for the whole microchip industry, beyond hardware wallets, such as the medical and automotive industries. Since Ledger is in talks with the chip manufacturer (ST) at the moment, we will also refrain from divulging any critical information, save for the fact that this attack vector is also resource-intensive, requiring laboratory-level equipment for manipulations of the microchip as well as deep expertise in the subject.”

After all, even major cryptocurrency exchanges are known to use hardware wallets for cold storage. Even if it requires “laboratory level” equipment and extreme knowledge, the jackpot is big enough that attacks could take place if people learn how to do them.

Guillemet noted a number of attack vectors for hardware wallets, one of which is a “supply chain attack.” A supply chain attack involves compromising the device itself, en route to the customer. Ledger’s CSO claims that Trezor is aware they have had counterfeiting of their products.

Guillemet says:“But why does it matter? It does matter because in this white device, I could insert some kind of backdoor. You can backdoor the device in many different ways.”

This is definitely an area where more research needs to be done to ensure that the data is being protected to ensure people would not lose their funds. In any sort of fledgling market, it is extremely important to ensure people that their investment is safe. Without that, people, businesses and governments will be afraid to invest their hard earned funds into any sort of project. More shockingly, if exchanges are using these wallets to store funds, this could be a huge black eye if hacked.

The problem will exist until such a time that people somehow make their own hardware wallets at home. Even then, as Trezor says:

“No hardware is unhackable, and depending on what your security model is, there are tools which you can use to mitigate threats. […] Besides, if one has sufficient capital, time, and resources, no hardware barriers will stand against their attacks.”

While this statement may be true, making it as absolutely difficult as possible is the key. There may be vulnerabilities but it is crucial to eliminate as many flaws as possible.

IBM and Denver-based credit union service organization CULedger, have struck a collaboration deal by which new blockchain-based services will be pioneered to help credit unions provide their members with greater efficiencies and an enhanced user experience. CULedger focuses on delivering “innovative applications” to credit unions via its cross-border global distributed ledger platform. Specifically, IBM and […]

IBM and Denver-based credit union service organization CULedger, have struck a collaboration deal by which new blockchain-based services will be pioneered to help credit unions provide their members with greater efficiencies and an enhanced user experience. CULedger focuses on delivering “innovative applications” to credit unions via its cross-border global distributed ledger platform.

Specifically, IBM and CULedger, a consortium of credit unions, are to work together to use permissioned blockchain technologies to create an immutable audit trail, which can be used to create new business models and transform existing business processes for credit unions.

The parties also intend to help foster “greater financial inclusion” by extending the reach of services to a broader range of new members.

As with all financial institutions, having greater inclusion and a more transparent method of auditing provides account holders, investors and regulators with much more confidence as to that organization’s ability to carry out transactions that are not involved in any shady dealings. This is a definite win for account holders, as their charges for financial transactions should be less, as the blockchain’s ability to settle financial transactions is cheaper and quicker. This should also be a win for IBM, as they will become a leader on the blockchain and financial side of things. This should also be a win for regulators, as they can provide better auditing and audit trails should the need arise.

In the United States (U.S.), credit unions can either be chartered by the federal government or a state government. And, as of 2016 there were 5,757 credit unions with almost 104 million members comprising 45.4% of the economically active population. Credit union leagues exist across America in the shape of the Association of Vermont Credit Unions, California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues and Ohio Credit Union League.

Across the Pond in Britain the first credit union start trading back in 1964, and over the last 50 or so years, they have grown to provide loans and savings to more than 1.2 million people across England, Scotland and Wales.

It joined R3’s global network of over 200 of the world’s largest financial services firms, technology companies, central banks, regulators, and trade associations working together on R3’s Corda platform, which is already being used in industries spanning financial services, healthcare, shipping, insurance and others.

Since 2016, IBM has worked with a wide variety of clients across financial services, supply chain, government, retail, digital rights management and healthcare sectors to implement blockchain applications. And, today it operates a number of networks in this space that are running live and in production, around 1,600 staff working in blockchain and DLT across all areas and sectors.

Investment management company Invesco is launching a blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the London Stock Exchange today. For the effort, Invesco has partnered with London-based Elwood Asset Management, an investment firm specializing in digital assets, to launch the product called the “Invesco Elwood Global Blockchain UCITS ETF.” Elwood announced the news Monday, saying the ETF […]

Investment management company Invesco is launching a blockchain exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the London Stock Exchange today.

For the effort, Invesco has partnered with London-based Elwood Asset Management, an investment firm specializing in digital assets, to launch the product called the “Invesco Elwood Global Blockchain UCITS ETF.”

Elwood announced the news Monday, saying the ETF is designed to target companies with the potential to generate “real earnings” from blockchain technology.

Chris Mellor, head of EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) ETF equity product management at Invesco, said:

“The potential for blockchain to drive real earnings is huge, but it is often hidden within companies involved in other areas. This ETF offers investors access to companies with real earnings now, but with the added potential of blockchain-related earnings not reflected in their share prices.”

This is yet another of many signals that the crypto markets are maturing and being recognized by traditional investors for the potential value that they bring not only to the business community at large but for the investment world as well. With this, at least in this corner of the world, crypto is seen as a legitimate investment vehicle and bear market not withstanding, sees the potential for a lot of future success and value.

With this investment and show of confidence as well, the crypto markets can use that investment to continue to build up the infrastructure and build more relationships with the traditional business community such that will allow for even more growth. With the influx of resources to these projects, investors will see a solid return on their investment and this in turn will feed even more growth in the crypto space.

The ETF carries an annual management fee of 0.65 percent and aims to deliver the performance of the Elwood Blockchain Global Equity Index by “physically investing in the index constituents,” Elwood said in its statement.

The index, calculated for Elwood by German provider of financial indices Solactive AG, currently has a portfolio of 48 companies.

According to regional reports from China, a village located within the Wenzhou, Zhejiang region called Yuedong has been gathering attention due to its receptiveness toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In consonance with social media posts on Weibo, roughly 60 percent of the residents in Yuedong know about cryptocurrencies and many of the villagers have invested […]

According to regional reports from China, a village located within the Wenzhou, Zhejiang region called Yuedong has been gathering attention due to its receptiveness toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. In consonance with social media posts on Weibo, roughly 60 percent of the residents in Yuedong know about cryptocurrencies and many of the villagers have invested as well.

The mountain village of Yuedong is now known for its friendliness toward digital currencies. On March 7, people shared pictures of the hamlet, which local residents have dubbed the “blockchain industrial village,” on Weibo. Local columnist lylian Teng also confirmed the story and spoke with a villager, surnamed Lin, residing there. Lin explained that Yuedong has recently become very popular and receives a lot of crypto visitors. The report added that a majority of the Yuedong villagers embrace cryptocurrencies because an individual named Yang Linke was born in the village. Linke was the cofounder of China’s first bitcoin exchange Btcchina and Yuedong residents hold him in high regard.

Speaking about his hometown and sharing pictures of the guardrails with cryptocurrency symbols etched in stone, Yang Linke wrote to his followers on Weibo:

Things that can be seen in Silicon Valley, but they appear in our remote mountain village. We Wenzhou people dare to be the first in the world.

When the cryptocurrency bull run of 2017 happened, the Chinese government made real estate property policies extremely strict, so Chen and crew decided to sell all the real estate and profits for cryptocurrencies. According to the Yuedong villager surnamed Lin, officials from local Wenzhou government think highly of the “blockchain industrial village” initiative.

This is an important model and it will be interesting to see how this positive interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency evolves for this village. Will this allow them to put in place a series of government regulations, businesses and supportive environment for citizens to invest and get involved in the crypto industry? Will this move position them to succeed as the new economy continues to grow and disrupt traditional financial sector operations? The truth will probably be somewhere in the middle and should position the village to be a player in the crypto world.